Uttarakhand Waqf Board Proposes Revised Nikahnama To Align With UCC
· India · The Hindu, Indian Express
More than a year and a half after Uttarakhand implemented the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) on January 27, 2025, the State Waqf Board is preparing a revised format for the nikahnama — the Islamic marriage contract — to bring Muslim marriage registrations into conformity with the new law. Waqf Board chairman Shadab Shams said the revised document will remove columns allowing second, third or fourth marriages, since only one marriage is permitted under the UCC. Practices such as triple talaq and halala will also be barred under the new format, and conversions carried out solely for marriage will no longer be recognised, with interfaith couples required to register under the Special Marriage Act instead. The proposed nikahnama will carry an affidavit requiring both parties to provide complete and accurate personal details, with legal action threatened against anyone furnishing false information. Only clerics authorised by mosque management committees will be permitted to solemnise nikahs, and
Why it matters
Muslim families in Uttarakhand will need to follow a new marriage registration process that bars polygamy, triple talaq and halala, and channels interfaith couples into the Special Marriage Act — reshaping religious marriage practice in the first Indian state to roll out the UCC.
Read the original report — The Hindu
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